One of the biggest factors in determining the desirability of the house, at least in American culture, is the size of the kitchen. In all reality, it’s probably not the most important thing to consider when looking at a house, but given the average attitude of a buyer, tends to be a focus. That said, listing your kitchen is large tends to be a solid marketing strategy when you’re ready to sell, at least assuming your estimates of large actually comply with everyone else’s standards for such.
The trick is, the average size of an American kitchen has changed significantly over time, and since houses built in the early colonial times are just as commonplace as new houses in the grand scheme of things, it’s very hard to put your thumb on a true average kitchen size. On top of this, remodels and the eccentricities of various trendy design schemes over history have had a large bearing on this as well.
So, to get a feel for the average kitchen size in any given American home, you really have to divide into time periods and styles, along with various common sizes of houses in general. Even then, it only really serves to create a basic guideline, and nothing truly definitive. Still, in the grand scheme of things, a basic guideline like this is sufficient to determine whether or not your kitchen truly qualifies as at least average or large.
Mid-20th Century and Onward
For the purposes of this kind of thing, it’s best to start with the mid-20th century. When looking into a house that’s much older than this, there are a great many other factors at play that average people just needn’t contend with.
Most older kitchens average around 80 ft.², and this is the result of technological trends at the time. Countertops were much smaller, and accouterments such as islands, overhangs, small dining nooks and other such modernity’s just weren’t really a thing. Appliances had to be much larger while providing less functionality, and things such as dishwashers weren’t commonplace.
As a result, these tend to be smaller kitchens, very boxed in and not open-air. The concept of the modern, open kitchen with islands, copious counter space, and appliances taking up far less room is very much a 21st-century trend.
Using Average Home Sizes As Guidance for Kitchen Sizes
As said before, there are no standard governing rules for size standards regarding kitchens. That said, certain average sizes do tend to have a fairly direct bearing on kitchen size. Below are some fast and loose rules that tend to generally apply with most standardly built homes.
- 720 ft.² – kitchens of this size are huge, and tend to be common mostly with houses approximately 4800 ft.² in size or greater. These are practically mansions, so you’re unlikely to encounter a kitchen of the size unless you’re buying a very expensive home.
- 182 to 440 ft.² – this is the average range in most modern three-bedroom homes built by contractors in modern times.
- 100 ft.² or lower space – space these are common kitchen sizes for very small single bedroom homes, apartments, condos and other smaller types of homes.
For more information on kitchen sizes, and how they correlate to home sizes, as well as times when houses were built, fill out our contact form below or call us today. This is a very inexact science, and we are here to help you through it.
